In this week’s collaboration with FactCheck.org, Jake Tapper of CNN’s “State of the Union” tackles three claims from the first Democratic debate.
Three Democratic Debate Lowlights
Locations: National
FactChecking the Democratic Debate
The candidates stretched the facts on unemployment, wages and Social Security, among other topics.
Sanders Misleads on Social Security
Sen. Bernie Sanders repeats a Democratic talking point in saying that Social Security hasn’t contributed “one penny” — or “one nickel” — to the deficit. In fact, it contributed $73 billion to the deficit in 2014.
Cruz Misquotes Clapper on Refugees
Ted Cruz misrepresented the words of the U.S. national intelligence director, claiming that James Clapper “said among those [Syrian] refugees are no doubt a significant number of ISIS terrorists.” Clapper didn’t say that.
Mailbag: Emails and Economic Growth
This week, readers sent us letters about Hillary Clinton’s emails and Jeb Bush’s comments on economic growth.
Clinton and the Benghazi Reports
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said all of the government investigations into the terrorist attacks on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi concluded that “nobody did anything wrong.” That’s not exactly accurate.
Fiorina and Planned Parenthood
Jake Tapper this week discusses Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina’s insistence that she has “seen the footage” of an abortion she vividly described during the second GOP debate.
Trump Attacks Bush on Sanctuary Cities
Donald Trump says that “the state of Florida had sanctuary cities while Jeb Bush was governor,” and “nobody said anything.” But we could find no evidence that any Florida city or county fit the bill of a sanctuary city at that time, at least not officially.
Obama’s Numbers (October 2015 Update)
Our quarterly update of selected statistical indicators of Obama’s presidency.
Gun Laws, Deaths and Crimes
President Barack Obama says “states with the most gun laws tend to have the fewest gun deaths.” Carly Fiorina says those states have “the highest gun crime rates.” But both imply a causation that’s impossible to prove.